The atmosphere Saturday night in the PPL Center was electric, with a sell-out crowd of almost 8500 fans ready for the opening night of Phantoms hockey!!   Lehigh Valley took on the Syracuse Crunch in a game that entertained and frustrated the phans.  The Crunch ultimately won the contest 4-3.
Both teams were aggressive to the puck and went up and down the ice for nine minutes before Syracuse opened the scoring with a goal by Mike Blunden.  He was assisted by Mike Angelidis and Henri Ikonen.   Getting behind didn’t get the Phantoms down.   Just about two minutes later they tied up a game when Aaron Palushaj found the back of the net on a power play, assisted by Taylor Leier and Shayne “Ghost” Gostisbehere. 
The Crunch then went on a roll and scored two goals in a relatively short amount of time.   At the 14:31 mark, Jonathan Marchessault scored to make it 2-1.  This time Joel Vermin and Dylan Blujus got the assists.   It looked grim and the phans were getting upset just a few minutes later when Philippe Paradis took a rebound and put it right back towards the net and it went in.   Tanner Richard took the original shot, to get the assist, and Anthony DeAngelo also was scored an assist.  The ended a very active first period.
Syracuse continued the assault in the second period when Marchessault scored another goal at about the 6:00 mark, assisted by Blujus and Jeff Tambelini.
The Phantoms did not give up, even being down 3, and dug deep to cut into the lead with another score, this time by Chris Conner.   Conner got a hold of a Pavel Padakin rebound and lit the lamp at 9:17.  Michael Parks got the secondary assist.  This goal ended the scoring of the second frame.
The third period was filled with a lot of excitement as they went up and down the ice, back and forth, for over 16 minutes before another puck crossed the line.    Lehigh Valley made it a 1 score game at 16:31 on an even-strength tally by Danick Martel.   Nick Cousins and Conner received credit for the assists.
All in all, despite the loss it was a good game for the home team.    Good things happened throughout the contest and can be used to build upon for the future. 
The Phantoms will be away for a couple weeks and their next home game will be Saturday, October 24th.   Come on out and enjoy the show! 
Until next time….. Have a good day!

The Phantoms played two pre-season games this week at the PPL Center in Allentown.   The first was an exciting match against the Hartford Wolf Pack played in front of 6200 fans on Saturday evening. 
The first period saw a lot of action on both ends of the ice, but no scoring.    Second year player Anthony Stolarz was in goal for Lehigh Valley and put on an amazing display for the crowd, making nine saves.   The Phantoms, although showing some pre-season confusion at times, had their own opportunities to score.  However, they could not capitalize on their eight shots on goal and the scored remained 0 – 0 after one. 
The second period brought much of the same for the first 12 minutes as the teams went up and down the ice with scoring chances, but none hit the net.    This changed at the 12:18 mark when the home team took advantage of a power play to get on the scoreboard.   Taylor Leier redirected a slap-shot by the “Ghost”, Shayne Gostisbehere, to the puck past Hartford goalie, Jeff Malcom.   Nick Cousins was also credited with an assist.  Lehigh Valley enjoyed the lead for about four minutes until Hartford’s Petr Zamborsky found the back of the net with a few minutes remaining in the second.  
The Wolf Pack made quick work of scoring in the first minute of the third period on a power play goal by Calle Anderson, assisted by Zamborsky and Marek Hrivik.  Hartford then finished the scoring at about the 8:00 minute mark when Hrivik skated across the front of the crease got the puck and used a backhander to put it across the line. 
Even though it was a loss, the pre-season game provided important ice time to entire team to practice using new coach Scott Gordon’s system.  
The second game of the weekend was even more exciting and a win for the home-town Phantoms!   They squared off against rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the second time in five days and came out on top 4-3, in front of a light Sunday crowd.  The attendance was just about 5500.
The first period was all Lehigh Valley as they scored twice and didn’t allow a goal.  At the 10:59 mark, Petre Straka scored on a pass from Shayne Gostisbehere.  Cole Bardreau also assisted on the play.   Just five minutes later the Phantoms scored again by taking advantage of a power play.   Taylor Brent popped in the rebound of a Taylor Leier’s shot, saved by Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.  
The score remained 2-0 for almost 20 minutes as the team traded runs up the and down the ice, but neither team was able to hit that back of the net.    At the 15:09 point of the second period, Danick Martel found Nick Cousins who shot past Jarry for a 3-0 lead.   This would prove to be the only goal of the second frame. 
It appeared that Lehigh Valley was feeling just a little too comfortable as they allowed the visitors to score three relatively quick goals in the first 9 minutes of the third.  Sahir Gill scored at 2:32 with an assist from Ty Loney.   Loney then took his turn at lighting the lamp five minutes with assists from John McCarron and Gill.  Less than two minutes later the score was knotted at three on an unassisted goal by  Oskar Sundqvist. 
At this point it was a whole new game with ten minutes to play.   The fans became nervous and excited at the same time.   The Phantoms put them a bit at ease with a turnover goal by Martel at 15:37.   In a last ditch attempt to tie the score, W-B/Scranton used a power play and an extra attacker but could not get it done.
Lehigh Valley Phantom fans were thrilled to experience the first home win of the season!  The regular season starts on Saturday, October 10th – come out and enjoy the game!